Charles W. Jackson Jr. has come forward to claim weekend's $344.6 million jackpot.
Jackson’s lucky ticket matched all six numbers in Saturday’s drawing, winning a $344.6 million prize.
It’s the largest jackpot ever won in North Carolina involving a single ticket.
The 66-year-old grandfather from Cumberland County initially thought he had won $50,000 and was heading to Raleigh to collect, but looked again and saw he’d won a lot more.
“I didn’t see it all at first,” he said. “I thought I had only matched four of the five white balls. I thought that meant I had only won $50,000. I called my wife and told her, ‘I need to go to Raleigh. I won something!’”
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According to AP, Jackson chose the $223 million lump sum payment and said he would donate some of it to several charities and give $1 million to his brother to make good on a deal they made.
It is the fifth time a North Carolina ticket has claimed a Powerball jackpot, according to lottery officials.
His win eclipses the previous North Carolina jackpot record of $188 million in February 2015.
